Commonly, product search engines are utilized to implement search functionality for documents within one or more databases. In some cases, each document represents a product in one or more product databases for an e-commerce search engine. In many databases, the products are described by one or more attributes that could be organized in a faceted classification framework. The attributes may describe or indicate characteristics of the product itself and/or a product category.
When a faceted search engine processes a search query, it typically identifies one or more attributes in the search query string, finds documents that have the identified attribute values, and returns the results based on matches for the attributes. Faceted search engines typically have a static list of fields and/or facets that is predetermined prior to query time. Many databases have a large number (potentially thousands) of attributes to search. This type of search engine may suffer performance degradation as the number of facets increases because traditional faceting mechanisms may not be scalable from a performance or quality standpoint.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding components throughout the several views of the drawings. Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present disclosure. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present disclosure.